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Some UK ISPs Is Going to Block TPB?

According to TPB, the UK High Court is ordering some ISPs to block this website well known for circulating torrents for distributing copy-righted materials without authorization. However, is it righteous to forbid citizens to access certain kind of information they deem copy-right infringing?

For the record, I can freely access TPB from my country so I do not intend to test the techniques myself, and I do not know about the risk of such techniques.

Yeah, Virgin Media have already blocked TPB, but it's so trivial to circumvent that the block seems almost pointless. If you can't get around the block though, it's a good job that you can't just type "form of media +torrent" into Google or something, oh wait.

It is however principle and heading towards a slippery slope. I think that's what people are more concerned about. Being caught out about downloading material is something that most people consider when they do it. It should come as no surprise to them when their source inevitably (?) gets taken down.

If you apply the slippery slope argument to what the ISPs are doing, should we not also apply that argument to what pirates/customers are doing... downloading things illegally, and for free, and the creative industries receiving vastly reduced income.

Originally Posted by Hypernetic

I just have an opinion different to your own. Circle jerking is good for no one, be glad somebody isn't afraid to disagree with women on the internet.

In long: The economic pressures have changed direction and the wise bods have adapted to it; you need only look at iTunes' rip-roaring success to realise that actually, if you charge people a low enough price with a good enough quality, people will buy it properly. Piracy, by-and-large, is people's response to the value of things, be it the value of an ocean as a pointless barrier in the digital age (at the risk of getting banned, I won't say how I acquire the latest episodes of Mad Men shown in American, just that I do and when the DVD comes out in the UK, I'll be picking it up because I want to watch that show lots) or the high-priced cost. Not that that latter is an excuse, but it's a reason and definitely a sign.

Pricing is very fixed and adapting companies are realising that this is a flawed philosophy when there is now more choice than ever before and are doing something about it. Go on Steam, look at the different prices of any game, be they indie or from EA. The content/price difference varies so much and the ones that get it right tend to be the best-sellers. There's also the case of offering something unique - you can't offer a stadium experience of a band from a torrent, but you can offer tickets. That's where the music industry is at, yet they're still bitching and moaning about the whole piracy thing, despite the fact you can walk into HMV and buy a new album for £10 for 45 minutes of (hopefully repeatable) content.

I'm not condoning piracy, but I am saying there's some pretty good reasons why it happens and that there's a good few solutions that the related industries can do about it.

Also, I apologise if that seemed a bit patronising. Someone is in the middle of their dissertation due in tomorrow (I know, I know, I'm an idiot for leaving it this late) and it is to do with conflict over content on the internet and obviously, this is a big section...

I'm very much anti-piracy, but that's bullshit. TPB don't distribute a thing. They're basically a torrent search engine as far as I'm aware.

Google does the exact same thing, yet that's not being blocked.

Yes, but TPB is not Google, and vice versa. Google has many, many more uses and services than TPB. Google's primary service is not the facilitation of copyright infringement. That Google do provide those sort of search results is a side effect of the way they work, and facilitate a great, great many things. TPB only exists to facilitate copyright infringement.

Originally Posted by Hypernetic

I just have an opinion different to your own. Circle jerking is good for no one, be glad somebody isn't afraid to disagree with women on the internet.

Yes, but TPB is not Google, and vice versa. Google has many, many more uses and services than TPB. Google's primary service is not the facilitation of copyright infringement. That Google do provide those sort of search results is a side effect of the way they work, and facilitate a great, great many things. TPB only exists to facilitate copyright infringement.

But what's gained by not enforcing the same reasoning on Google, which has a great many more users?

TPB largely leads to illegitimate acquisitions, but blocking it won't do shit.

This is the establishment doing what it wants, because it can. To speak of legal nuances is to not only miss the point of what is happening here, but to play on their turf, as if under the illusion that one can match them lawyer for high-powered lawyer. More productive is to ride out the blow and continue to undermine the system. Get educated re: TOR, VPN, etc. and educate others.

Does anyone here take issue with the blocking of any other illegal material or activities? It's alright harping on about freedom when it's copyrighted material, but I don't know many people who oppose the blocking of child pornography or snuff on the same grounds.

Does anyone here take issue with the blocking of any other illegal material or activities? It's alright harping on about freedom when it's copyrighted material, but I don't know many people who oppose the blocking of child pornography or snuff on the same grounds.

Child pornography is inseparable from the mental, physical and sexual abuse of children.
Torrenting Arcanum is nowhere near on the same level.

It's alright harping on about freedom when it's copyrighted material, but I don't know many people who oppose the blocking of child pornography or snuff on the same grounds.

Except for the fact you might block legitimate things on the grounds of these things, these things are never about protecting the children there all about control of things the government doesn't want you to see, and occasionally they also block things that are legitimate as well on these grounds. We should fight whenever it happens because its a free internet and the moment you close doors on it is the moment its gone.

Napster was shut down -- a hojillion other music sharing services remained.
R4 flash cards for the DS were banned -- a hojillion other flash cards remained.
TPB has been blocked -- a hojillion other torrent sites remain.

It's a weak measure. More of a gesture towards fighting piracy than a genuine solution.

I'm going to be cheeky and share a paragraph from my dissertation (almost completed!!) on piracy. I think it sums up the whole argument rather well ('I've edited out references and included a link for those interested);

In fact, it is so prevalent in current day society that according to Castells and Cardoso “a very significant proportion of the population is building its mediation through alternative channels of obtaining content”, which they subsequently refer to as “Piracy Cultures”. To this they add “Piracy cultures have become part of our everyday life in the network society, sometimes even without us, fully acknowledging them as such”. Evidently, piracy has permeated society and culture to the extent that it is unlikely to go anywhere. If we return to our hypothetical product of a television show, it is likely that just after it has finished airing in the UK, it will be procurable in a variety of different ways and will be consumed by someone across the globe, in high definition quality, within minutes. It is certainly understandable why commercial producers are keen to tackle the issue, but considering it is more than likely ‘here to stay’, it seems the more pertinent question is not how to stop piracy, but how to make the product more desirable legally. Comedy Central addressed this in a simple manner and have simply started putting up some of their shows online which “put a big dent in piracy” and will have no doubt provided revenue in the form of online advertising.